Credence goods markets, online information and repair prices: A natural field experiment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kerschbamer, Rudolf; Neururer, Daniel; Sutter, Matthias
• 署名单位: University of Innsbruck; University of Otago; Max Planck Society; University of Cologne
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2023.104891
• 发表日期: 2023
• 关键词: Credence goods; FRAUD; Online information; Rating platforms; field experiment

摘要

Credence goods markets are characterized by large informational asymmetries between consumers and expert sellers. In two waves of a natural field experiment in the market for computer repairs we study whether consumers benefit from accessing online information about their needs or previous consumers' experience with particular sellers. We find that gaining noisy knowledge about one's needs and revealing it to the seller is a costly mistake, since seemingly better informed customers pay, on average, higher prices. By contrast, accessing online ratings helps identifying sellers who provide appropriate quality at reasonable prices, in particular on rating platforms that filter out untrustworthy reviews. (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).